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Saturday, 27 April 2013

Yesterday was character creation day for my midweek group. Followers of this blog and Google plus communities for fate core will know that I've produced a couple of fate mash ups but I wanted to run something fairly vanilla to see how everything shook out from the players perspective.

This is an experienced group and by mutual unspoken consent we've largely been running rules light games for a while.

We settled on wild blue for our first fate game (of hopefully many) and the story I'm running should take around four sessions to complete at a 2 hour session time.

So far we have two Wardens with very different outlooks and powers.

The first has a power inspired by Mack the Knife from Wild Cards. If he was of the Folk he might be a shaman but that destiny has found itself lodged in the body of an incomer.

The second is the child of a forbidden union between an incomer and one of the Folk. Her power is a kind of object teleportation.

We will be adding a third Warden to the posse before they ride out.

Everyone seemed to get character creation under Fate pretty quickly and the out of game banter about the characters provided some great inspiration for some of the aspects.

"So you're a traitor, the first thing you said was traitorous."

"I'm not a traitor. I'm just misunderstood"

This is one of the things I think I like most about setting up a Fate game. The natural dynamic of the group really works for the players in anchoring them to their characters. I'm looking forward to seeing how the gang works together when we start play and how well they adapt to a more cooperative narrative style. Using the GNS classifications the group is probably two N's and a G so it will be especially interesting to see how our resident gamist takes to it. I expect quite well as, although Fate is a game about narrative it gives a lot of power back to the players to be good when they want to be.

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

The Lion Clan

Akodo Bushi School

The fury of the Akodo is honed as sharp as any blade. You may ignore up to armour:2 on a successful strike.

Rank Two - Roar of the Lion

The Akodo samurai is both fearsome and glorious. You may use Provoke to inspire your comrades granting them a boost is successful.

Rank Three - Strength of My Ancestors

You strike twice in combat. Once for you and once for you ancestors as long as you are armed with a Bushi weapon. The second strike occurs at the end of the turn.

Rank Four - Triumph Before Battle

Before you engage in combat a successful Awareness roll grants you the knowledge of the weakness of your foe’s technique, granting you +2 Fighting against them for the duration of the encounter.

Rank Five - Akodo’s Final Lesson

Masters of the Akodo school know that victory is assured to them. You only need 2 shifts for success with style when Fighting.

Kitsu Shugenja School

Affinity of Water (Shintao)

The Tamori school specialises in earth magics; +2 when casting water based spells. However, your mastery of the element of fire is poor in comparison and you suffer a -2 penalty when attempting to cast spells of this element.

Eyes of the Ancestors (Shintao)

The Kitsu are descended from the fox spirits from whom they take their name. This gives them the ability to see the spirit of their opponents. If you succeed in a spellcasting test contested by your target’s will you may reveal all spiritual aspects of the character and for a void point you may prevent the character invoking this aspect for the remainder of the scene.

Ikoma Bard School

Rank One - The Herald of Glory

You are a master of the oral histories of the empire. Through your training you have gained the Precise Memory Aspect.

Rank Two - The Heart of the Lion

As a bard you are trained to display those emotions that others must keep in check. It is not a dishonorable act for you to show emotion, as long as you are doing so on behalf of another Lion or another honorable cause. You also gain a boost against any attempt to sway your emotions through provocation.

Rank Three - The Voice of the Ancestors

As well as historians, the Ikoma are the battle callers of the Lion. Before any battle or skirmish, you may roll to create an advantage with Artisan (Poetry) skill, inspiring your allies, exhorting them to uphold the honour of the clan. If successful you create a scene advantage with a free invoke for each of your allies within earshot.

Rank Four - The Strength of Tradition

The steadfast encouragement that the Ikoma give to their companions calls on the example of their noble ancestors for inspiration and lends their strength to that of their allies.

By inspiring an ally with tales of ancestral heroism on a successful Artisan (Poetry) test you may trade a fate point to that ally if they have no fate points of their own left.

Rank Five - Every Lion is Your Brother

The Ikoma carry with them the history of the whole Lion clan and their ages old knowledge of bushido, honour and courtly etiquette.

You may use your Artisan (Poetry) skill in place of Etiquette with a boost in any contested social test where you can cite historical precedent to back up your argument.

Matsu Berserker School

Rank One - The Lion’s Roar

While the Akodo strategize and plan, you simply overwhelm your opponents with the fury of you attacks. You do two additional shifts of damage on a successful melee attack when in the full attack stance.

Rank Two - Matsu’s Fury

Engaging in combat with an enraged Matsu is terrifying. Nominate an opponent in the same zone as you and if you successfully strike them in melee combat when in the full attack stance then you may spend a fate point to inflict mental damage on them with the same severity as the physical damage your attack caused.

Rank Three - The Lion’s Charge

The Matsu charge fearlessly into battle. You may spend a fate point act first in combat.

Rank Four - Matsu’s Courage

Death before dishonour. A Matsu will never yield while she draws breath. You may cannot be compelled by any fear based aspect while you are in the attack stance.

Rank Five - The Lion’s Victory

The death of an enemy is the only victory the Matsu recognise. Once per scene you may spend a fate point on a successful attack to double the shifts of damage done.